


The first meeting

by Anxiety_Elf



Series: Starry Nights [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Canon to the AU, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Self-Esteem Issues, Star!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anxiety_Elf/pseuds/Anxiety_Elf
Summary: Star attends his first meeting, and ends up encountering his future best friend.
Series: Starry Nights [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2193117
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	The first meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first of many Starry Nights canon fics, is anyone gonna read this? Maybe! Enjoy the story either way!
> 
> To those new and don't understand what Starry Nights or the Star!AU is, here: https://starsansesandgoop.tumblr.com/post/643472067728146432/shakes-in-excitement-the-ask-blog-is-here

Star kept his gaze locked to the ground as he gripped his brother’s hand tightly. He could distantly hear Blue and Dream chatting back and forth about some seasonal topic, but like Ink, Star decided to stay out of it. It wasn’t worth getting wrapped up with their passions, especially when he didn’t know much on the topic himself. Though, admittedly, at this point he knew very little about the topic as a whole: Were they talking about clothes or flowers? It all sounded the same to him.

As they walked down the hall of the tall building, Star couldn’t help but idly wonder what this would be like. He understood he’d be meeting new faces (the thought brought a nervous shiver down his spine) and that they’d be discussing about some important matters (what those were exactly, he hadn’t a clue), but as this was the first one he’d actually be joining, safe to say he found himself feeling rather unsettled.

He jolted as a hand came down to the top of his skull, and given the size he distinctly recognised it as Dream’s hand. He looked up at his brother who smiled at him reassuringly, and then leaned it to press a light kiss on his forehead. Star blinked rapidly, and as Dream pulled his hand away he could see the subtle smudges of his own goop on his palm. That alone had him feeling even more nervous than before, but Dream was quick to distract him.

“If you’re not ready yet, we can always cancel,” he said softly, always wearing that sweet smile of his. “It’s intimidating, isn’t it? We can do it another time if you’re not ready-”

“No, no,” Star quickly shook his head and squeezed his brother’s hand. “Sorry, I just don’t know what we’re doing, I’ll be fine.” he paused for a second, then added a tight “Please.” in the end. He’d essentially been disallowed from joining these meetings due to him finding the idea of other monsters seeing him rather frightening, but he thought it was better now or never. Besides, from the occasional quiet vents he’d hear from the group, it sounded like there were a lot of these… what did they call them? ‘Bad Sanses’? Somehow, he found himself getting intimidated by the name. 

Dream watched him, then offered another smile as they turned a corner. “Well, if it ever gets too much, just tug on my arm.”

That, at least, he could do.

Upon finally reaching the doors to this apparent meeting room, Star tried to keep his head down while simultaneously attempting to get a peek at anything that was a skeleton like them. He didn’t know what entailed the title of ‘bad’ for the group, but surely they had to be some terrible monsters. Were they killers? Bullies? Cruel sadists that took pleasure in watching monsters squirm? He briefly wondered if they were just a group of Inks, but found his thoughts came to a sudden break as he bumped into someone. 

He flinched and let go of his brother’s arm in the shock, tried to scramble back in order to make room between himself and the (tall) monster. He watched with wide, fearful eyes as the figure turned around, and instead of meeting eyelights in turn he instead found disturbingly empty sockets, and the bright, red target symbol on his chest caught his attention only for a second. What he sooner noticed were the strange black streaks down his eyes, and he couldn’t help but compare them to his own goop. 

That was the only fascinating thing. The monster in front of him drew a sinister, sharp grin on his face and turned to face him fully, one hand in his pocket as he leaned down. The other hand raised to reveal a knife near his face that Star hadn’t even realised was there. The monster tilted his head. 

“Watch your step, slime-ball,” the monster smirked. “I wouldn’t wanna slice your neck for making that mistake twice.”

Star froze on the spot, stared at the taller monster with wide eyes, the crystal blue of his eyes shrunk and the room around him grew dark. The figure before him was not a skeleton, but a bunny instead. One that held a sharp rock in a tightly clenched fist, raising their arm overhead and slamming it down to his skull,  _ embedding into his socket, the burning pain zapping across his bones and the only sound  _ **_that tore from him was a tight gasp-_ **

“Hey!” 

His thoughts froze as his brother shot himself between the two and shoved back the monster, his brother’s fangs baring fiercely at the monster, and he looked seconds away from yanking out one of his limitless arrows as if to actually hurt the other with it. If he had a tail, it’d be lashing around angrily like a hissing cat. Ears drawn back against his skull and everything. 

“Keep that blade away from him,” he pushed himself closer to the other, like he was daring him to use the knife. Star watched utterly speechless as his brother broadened his shoulders. “Before you find it in your own neck.” 

The monster watched with an interested hum, and it was then that Star noticed the blurry figures spread around the room that notably didn’t belong to his friends, but instead strangers. The blurriness grew worse, and hastily he dropped his gaze as his brother and the other monster got louder with each other. The air became so tense he found it hard to breathe, and as he trembled more goop began to spread across the ground like a puddle. 

Shame burned on his face, his body felt filthy and there was a distinct scratchy irritation crawling up his bones. He took a shaky step back, and the room got even louder as Ink was scolded for throwing up his ink because he found the tension ‘exciting’ or something. He wasn’t paying attention. Star spun on his heel and burst through the doors, ignoring the shouts of his name and just rushed down the hall. He didn’t know where he was headed, but he needed to get as far from the room as possible. 

His body felt so itchy, he just wanted to tear off his bones, maybe just a layer. Just one. Just a little bit. He didn’t know where he was, but he pushed himself into a tight corner and slid down. Gasped for air and brought his hood up to cover his skull, each noise buzzing into his body, all of it was too loud. He pressed his palms flat against either side of his skull like it would stop the noise in his head. It didn’t. 

Amongst the heavy sounds he could hear something, it had a sweetness to it, made him want to listen to it but he couldn’t tell what it was. It didn’t come up that much, there were long stretches of silence where the voice disappeared, and while he longed for it he also appreciated the lack of it. It was already too loud, any more noise was just too much. 

He hiccuped and panted, still leaned over and resting his forehead on the surface of the wall before him. He kept his eyes squeezed shut, taking deep breaths as the noise gradually eased. Became just that little bit less overwhelming, and though any loud sounds would still be too much to listen to, at least it was getting easier. As he took a deep breath, breathing out gently to calm down, his eyes snapped open as he heard a voice he didn’t recognise. 

“Are you alright?”

The voice was weirdly glitchy, but in a way that was strangely nice to listen to. He waited for a few seconds, relishing the made up privacy of his semi covered body and only having the wall to look at. His curiosity was too great, however, and found himself timidly tilting his head. Only enough for him to see who the talker was. Instead of a mean face, or a warped version of his friends, he instead found black bones and uniquely coloured eyes.

Said eyes were warm and motherly, or at least, that’s how Star would describe them. He found himself staring at the monster for a little too long, taking in the sight of the dark bones, the same colour as his own. A silly thing to find comforting, much like how that other monster had that goop running down his eyes he couldn’t just expect the monster would be nice for that reason alone. Nor should he want to spend time with him for it. 

This one seemed a lot more different to the other skeleton, though. As he took notice of Star’s eye, he nodded and re-adjusted so he wasn’t looking at him. That alone had Star more intrigued, and he slowly turned to observe him better. His patchy clothes stood out to him, and though his back was still facing the rest of the world, Star was at least no longer completely cocooned into the wall. He waited for a few seconds, and though he wanted to speak, he couldn’t find the strength in his voice to say anything. 

The other dark skeleton was playing with some strings in his hands idly, and he was facing the ceiling with a distant look in his eyes. “Were you scared?” he asked. Star looked back down at the ground and offered a barely noticeable nod. Thankfully, the other monster caught it and nodded himself. “Yeah, meetings are pretty scary, aren’t they?” He stretched out the strings, connected to all his fingers, and seemed to be creating something with them. Or he was just fiddling, Star couldn’t tell. “You did well.”

Star’s face scrunched in a pained disbelief, and he faced the ground again in order to shake his head in denial. The monster hummed. 

“No?” He asked, and tilted his head curiously. “I think you did well, staying in the room for any amount of time is impressive with a group like ours, y’know?” 

A weak smile twitched at his lips, or tried to, and the skeleton chuckled in a way that caused the tension in the air to vanish. It was a lot easier to breathe here than it was in that room with all those monsters. He watched as the monster slowly twisted himself so he could face Star, and though his gaze timidly dropped, he wasn’t quite as uncomfortable at the idea of being stared at now as he was before. Even if he couldn’t bring himself to keep eye contact. 

“My name’s Error,” he finally brought a name to his face. “And I’d like to apologise for Killer’s behaviour, he likes playing around with newcomers and sometimes doesn’t take into consideration that not everyone appreciates it.” He shook his head in a manner that felt like a parent would of their child… what was it? Fond? Something along those lines. “He’s normally better at recognising that, but I suppose he got excited to meet you.”

That made Star freeze, and he gazed up at Error with startlingly wide eyes, like he couldn’t believe what the monster was saying. Which he didn’t, couldn’t. The idea that someone was actually looking forward to meeting him, being excited still even after seeing his face, the thought was so bizarre his doubts grew and he sent Error a wary, timid glance. Surely he was just saying that to make Star feel better? 

Error took note of the look and hummed, pursing his mouth a little before showing his hand to Star. The black of his bones ended at his fingers, which were multi coloured in both red and gold. Much like his fascinating eyes, the rest of his body seemed to follow the same style of colour. Though, it was more focused on his patchy clothes which only embraced his body’s aesthetic. 

“My group and I aren’t your typical, normal looking monsters most the time,” Error explained swiftly. “Your group, as far as we were aware, were just full of those types.” He paused, then shook his head. “There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and it doesn’t matter in the end, but when they saw you were more… like us,” he worded it gently. “They just got excited.”

Oh.

Star hadn’t even considered that they might all actually somewhat resemble him. The empty socket one he assumed was called Killer had been the one he’d felt a quick connection to, but after that drama he hadn’t even noticed the rest of the monsters, nor what they looked like. Were they like him? How similar would they be? Error already shared his colour, Killer had his goop, what could he expect from the others? 

The fact that they’d been eager to meet him for that alone was something he could understand, he too wanted to see them again. Even if Killer was one he didn’t feel entirely comfortable with, yet. Error seemed to take note of his expression of wonder, then reached out a hand to him. Star stared at it, hesitated for a brief second as he looked down at his own slimy hand. Killer’s words whispered in his mind, along with other, far older voices and he almost curled in on himself to get away from Error’s careful hand.

The skeleton seemed to understand, and pulled his hand away as he stepped back, giving Star more space. Star almost asked him to wait, to come back, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Error slipped his hands in his pockets, and Star was sure that this would’ve been the end of the conversation. It wasn’t, instead, Error nodded down the hall. “Would you like to go outside? Fresh air might do you some good.”

Star stared at the other in shock. What? Go outside? With Error? Just like that? The fact that this monster was willingly offering to spend time with him outside was enough for Star to grow wary and suspicious once again. There was no way, monsters who actually wanted to spend time with usually had some other reason up their sleeve to wanting to see him. The only monsters that weren’t like that were Blue, Ink, and brother.

He stopped himself, though. This monster was like him, this monster actually understood what it was like to look different, at the very least. With that thought in mind, Star carefully stood up and kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with the other as they slowly began to make their way down the stairs and through the halls. They didn’t run into anyone else, and briefly Star wondered if Dream was okay. He hoped his brother wasn’t worried about him, though knowing him he likely was freaking out. 

As they finally reached the outside and settled on a bench, Star leaned back and let the fresh air hit his face. It was admittedly better here than the cramped corner that he’d found, but only in the refreshing sense. He liked being in tight spaces, hidden away from the world. It brought him comfort. Error stayed with him for a good few minutes, and it was a nice quiet, before the skeleton’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out. Star looked over curiously, and the grip on his shorts tightened as Error’s face morphed into a scowl. That didn’t look good. 

“Think you can stay here for a bit?” Error asked briefly as he straightened out and put away his phone. “There’s something I have to take care of.” 

He waited for his nod, and once he got it Error returned the motion and shortcutted away, and Star was left alone in a quiet he wasn’t sure what to do about. He felt awkward, almost, and though there were no monsters around currently he still felt like he was being watched. Idly took another look at the surroundings and twisted around the hem of his poncho on his hands, like that was going to do anything to help.

Star jolted a little and looked up as a shadow fell over him, and his soul came to a sudden stop as the empty, goopy sockets he’d met before were staring down at him. There was a brief silence between the two monsters, and Star gripped his shorts tightly as he fearfully waited for the first blow, or a new set of insults, or anything that would confirm his panic and let him understand how bad of a monster this skeleton was. He knew Error said otherwise, but that face promised nothing but-

...a carton of strawberry milk?

Star stared at the offered drink, the monster, Killer, looking off to the side with a shy flush on his cheeks and nothing like the teasing skeleton he’d met before. Instead of another sensitive remark, Killer only waited for him to accept the gift. Star waited for a few seconds, contemplating the possibilities of this being a prank, before hesitantly reaching out just as he hesitantly opened up to the idea that this guy wasn’t all that he was wrapped up to be. If Error was being honest, then this should go fine. 

Seeing his gift being accepted, Killer breathed out a nervous sigh and sat himself down next to Star slowly, glancing at him (or, he assumed he was) to make sure it was okay for him to do so. Star stared down at the drink in his hands, praying his goop didn’t make it filthy and used that as the sole push to push the little straw through the foil and proceeded to sip it up. The milk was deliciously sweet, he liked strawberry even if he’d prefer it with a side of bitterness. Unfortunately, that wasn’t how strawberries worked. 

“Sorry,” Killer mumbled after spending far too long twiddling his thumbs. “I didn’t think- ah, well, that part doesn’t matter.” He corrected himself quickly under his breath, then readjusted to sit more on his side so he could look at Star. “Was I… Were you really hurt? By what I said?”

“You called me a slimeball.” Star commented as he sent Killer a look, and Killer winced as he nodded.

“I did,” he agreed. “And I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you that, I wasn’t being considerate.” And who’d have thought? It wasn’t often Star had someone apologise to him outright, certainly not for insults of that caliber. He couldn’t help but take a few seconds to properly observe Killer, scrunching up his face suspiciously. Killer didn’t look at him, but he did let out a rather friendly sounding chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Don’t really have a right to call you that,” he said simply. “I insult my friends as a joke, we all know it’s a joke, I just really wanted…”

That- What? Star’s eyes widened a little as he tried to take that fact in. Right, so Killer was supposedly used to insulting his friends as a joke, and by doing the same thing to him, then by extension, he wanted to be Star’s friend? That was such a bizarre and outlandish thought that there was no way it was really true. There was something else playing a part here, he refused to believe otherwise. The rest of the group was just waiting to ambush him, right? His panicked eyes flicked hastily around him to see if there were any possible places to hide- those bushes were good places.

Anything could be a hiding spot if you were quiet enough.

“Hey.” the warm voice snapped him out of his thoughts and Star snapped his eyes back up at Killer. Their eyes met (?) and Star swallowed nervously, holding the carton of milk a little too tight under his hands. Killer tilted his head in a way that got them both closer, and Star squeaked and attempted to hide behind the milk, but in doing so, squeezed the carton to its fullest extent and that’s where awkward became humiliation. 

Star gasped just as Killer yelped, both flinched away from each other, the milk had made a mess of Killer’s face and if it was at all possible, Star began to goop up even more. His slime spread out shamefully fast, and he hastily scrambled out of the bench in a blind panic, stumbling away from Killer in the panic that he’d get angry- he didn’t. 

Instead of anger and lashing hands, ready to grab and yank him around, he instead got a surprised laugh that was so light he found himself keeping very still just so he could hear it properly. The black streaks on Killer’s face mixed with the splashed milk into a mesmerising swirled pattern, and he could only stare for a few seconds before he jumped and reached into his inventory, quickly pulling out his wet napkins and offering them to Killer. 

“I’m so sorry-!” He squeaked out. “I’m not- I didn’t mean to-”

“Nah, don’t sweat it.” Killer laughed and happily accepted the napkin before he started to wipe at his face, cleaning up the milk quickly. “Honestly, I deserved it for calling you that.”

Star watched cluelessly as Killer made quick work of cleaning up his face, and once he was done he took a glance down at the goop leftover on the bench and took a moment to observe it, a thoughtful look on his face. Star flinched, gripped his wrist tightly and half expected the monster to make a comment on it. He didn’t. Instead, much like how he typically shocked Star throughout this conversation, he just used the wet napkins to clean up the goop and offered the seat to Star again the moment he was done. 

Star found himself completely speechless, and looked between the monster and the bench. He was offering to let him sit down? After cleaning the bench? He was about to tell him he didn’t have to do that, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Maybe it was sheer curiosity to know why the monster was being so nice to him, but he quietly sat down next to him again (appreciating the fresh touch of the wooden bench) and kept his body tightly together. 

He curiously glanced up at Killer, waiting to see what else he’d do. This monster was… very interesting. Star couldn’t help but want to know more about him. 

Maybe if they kept sitting here, talking, he would.

  
  



End file.
